B.C. company unveils mobile germ-killing machine

Doug Ward, VANCOUVER SUN11.24.2009

An ozone gas-based technology that can rid public spaces of the H1N1 influenza virus and other viruses, bacteria and moulds is demonstrated Tuesday in Vancouver by Viroforce CEO Nigel Boast (left), Dr. James Hudson, the company's chief scientific officer, and David MacLean, the company’s vice-president of marketing.

A B.C.-based start-up company claims it has developed an ozone gas-based technology that can rid public spaces of the H1N1 influenza virus and other viruses, bacteria and moulds.

Viroforce Systems Inc., a private company considering going public, says it’s spent $2.5 million over the past five years developing a mobile germ-killing machine.

Dr. James Hudson, a virologist and Viroforce’s chief scientific officer, told a press conference Tuesday that he has discovered the exact combination of ozone, humidity and time required to disinfect a room of all infectious micro-organisms.

“This combination kills 99.9 per cent of every virus that we have tested so far,” said Hudson, a professor emeritus at the University of B.C., adding that his kill estimate is a “conservative” one.

Hudson said that medical literature has proven that ozone is a potent exterminator of bacteria.

Viroforce’s plan is to offer a mobile system to disinfect offices, schools, hotels, planes, ships, hospitals and clinics and other locations of the H1N1 virus and other harmful and infections organisms.

A Viroforce germ hit squad would seal off the targeted room and use the mobile machine — equipped with a humdifier and catalytic converter — to transform the room’s oxygen into humidified ozone and then back into oxygen. The whole process takes about 45 minutes. The cost would range from about $250 to $500 for most rooms.

Viroforce is also prepared to sell the machines for $55,000 or lease them.

Dr. Eric Young, B.C.’s deputy provincial health officer, said he was unaware of Viroforce and its claims.

“Like anything else, the devil is in the details. And I haven't heard about this before, or seen it, or read any research about it.”

Young said that he’s been impressed by the infection-control measures being followed in public places, including people coughing into their sleeve and frequently washing their hands.

Viroforce’s ozone technology was used commercially for the first time last month at a boarding school for international students in B.C., said David MacLean, the company’s vice-president of marketing.

Viroforce was contacted after one of the school’s students became infected with the H1N1 virus, said MacLean. The student was put in quarantine and Viroforce employees disinfected much of the school. The student later returned to the school and there was no outbreak of the flu. MacLean could not identify the boarding school, saying the school wanted to remain anonymous.

Viroforce’s technology has also received third-party validation at a private U.S.-based microbiology laboratory approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. MacLean said that Viroforce could not identify the American laboratory without the lab’s consent.

Viroforce CEO Nigel Boast said that Viroforce has so far been funded by friends and relatives of the company’s principals and by “angel” investors. The company has received $100,000 in funding from the federal National Research Council plus tax credits from the B.C. government, he added. Patent approval is pending.

dward@vancouversun.com

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B.C. company unveils mobile germ-killing machine

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